Happy Birthday

Thirteen years ago today, two tiny little feet walked into our lives. Those feet have been leaving footprints on our hearts ever since! It's hard to believe that our oldest is a teenager; what does that make me, I wonder??

Like one older Mother said recently, "I feel like I would be more ready to care for my children now - now I have all this experience!" I welcomed my firstborn with pretty much zero experience. As the youngest in my family, I had never cared for a newborn - never dressed one, never bathed one, never fed or soothed one, hardly ever even changed a diaper!

I look at this man-child who towers over me already and I wonder, how did we get here? How did we muddle our way through terrible nights and sickness and discipline and potty training? How did we manage to get to the place of this tall son who clothes himself and bathes himself and puts his own clothes in the laundry (usually) and pulls his share of the work around the place? Granted, there are just as many places where I hold my head and wonder how did we miss teaching him that???

And now we embark on the next phase of parenthood: the teens. I'm not sure that I'm ready for this! Still, if we could muddle our way from tiny baby to towering 13 year old, with God's help we can carry on through the next phase. And when I watch my oldest deftly washing up that pile of dishes or entertaining his younger siblings or mowing the lawn with expertise my heart swells, and I know that this child is, indeed, growing up!

Happy 13th Isaac! I'm proud to have you call me Mom.

*Please excuse the poor quality, pictures taken from pictures.......